The Toronto stock market was slightly lower by midday Thursday, as the European Central Bank announced it's cutting its key interest rate and putting in place a new stimulus program to help rescue Europe's weak economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 7.96 points to greet noon at 15,649.67.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.19 to 92.04 cents U.S.
On the corporate front, Manulife Financial Corp. announced after markets closed on Wednesday that it's buying the Canadian operations of Standard Life for $4 billion in cash. Manulife said the acquisition will boost its presence in Quebec, which it has underserved in the past.
Its shares dipped more than 1%, or 24 cents, to $22.13 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that our merchandise exports increased 1.4% in July, while imports edged down 0.3%. As a result, Canada's trade surplus with the world widened from $1.8 billion in June to $2.6 billion in July.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 5.09 points to 1,005.09.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by noon, with consumer staples up 1.3%, industrials moving upward 0.5%, and telecoms ahead 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by gold, sagging 0.8%, energy, down 0.6%, and materials, off 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
European Central Bank’s surprise interest-rate cuts and new bond-buying program sent the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to intraday record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials shunted higher 35.61 points at noon hour to 17,113.89
The S&P 500 gained 4.46 points to 2,005.18. The NASDAQ remained positive 12.93 points to 4,585.53.
PVH Corp. shares jumped 10% after the apparel company’s second-quarter earnings, which were reported late Wednesday, beat expectations.
Hovnanian Enterprises shares rose after the homebuilder beat estimates for the third-quarter profits.
The European Central Bank unexpectedly lowered all its interest rates Thursday to fresh record lows.
The ECB’s action was seen as a positive because it shows the central bank is ready to counter falling inflation in the euro-zone. The move outweighed slightly softer-than-expected reports on the U.S. labour market ahead of the monthly jobs report due on Friday.
Thursday’s key U.S. economic report is ADP’s report on hiring in the private sector, which showed a slowdown during August. The country’s largest payroll-processing firm said the private sector added 204,000 jobs in August, which was below the 215,000 jobs expected.
Weekly jobless claims numbers rose slightly more than expected, but remain near an eight-year bottom.
The two reports are preludes to the August jobs report on Friday. Economists expect 226,000 nonfarm-payroll jobs were added in August.
Separately, the U.S. trade deficit shrunk in July, and the June gap was revised lower, offering evidence that trade was slightly less of a drag on the nation’s growth during the summer than initially reported.
A look at the service sector will come from the Institute for Supply Management later this morning. Economists expect the ISM’s index to come in at 57.2%. Service providers employ more than 80% of American workers.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, raising yields to 2.44% from Wednesday’s 2.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped $1.18 to $94.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $1.50 to $1,268.80 U.S. an ounce.
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